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Notes:

Our government, now re-engineered by the New Founders of America (NFA), has sanctioned its annual 12-hour Purge to ensure that the crime rate stays below one percent for the rest of the year. With police and hospitals suspending help, it's one night when the citizenry regulates itself without thought of punishment or fear of retribution.

Thriller Action Horror - While a sequel to last summer's sleeper hit, nearly none of the cast
members return, and this is more of an action film than the
horror/thriller vibe of the original. That said, violence, language,
and subject matter are as dark and intense as in the first film and
is not for kids.

Berardinelli, Internet CriticFull ReviewAbove Average This time around, he flips the tables and takes us outside into the dog-eat-dog world of the streets. The result is an action-oriented survival tale...

Roger EbertFull ReviewAverage More than anything, this speaks to DeMonaco's creative indecision. If he unclenched, and had a little fun developing the world his film is set in, "The Purge: Anarchy" might not be so tedious.

USA TodayFull ReviewAbove Average The jarring action and outlandish premise of a lawless free-for-all are somehow riveting and inane in almost equal measures.

OPINION OVERVIEWThe following is the original "What's Worth
Watching" write-up for this movie.

Moviegoer Opinions:

Based on a theater exit polling of 34 moviegoers:
Unfortunately, we weren't able to collect very many reviews since the younger audience for this movie isn't good about giving a review.
TEENS: The males mostly loved "The Purge: Anarchy." Just 15% rated it as low as "average." Only about 20% of the females loved it, with another, close to 40% rating it "above average." The remaining, nearly 50%, felt it was only an "average" movie (enjoyable but nothing special or memorable).
TWENTYSOMETHINGS:The two males loved it as did two of the three females. The third female rated it "above average," which indicates a movie they enjoyed very much.
ADULTS: Strangely enough, the females enjoyed it much more than the males. Two females loved it, three rated it "above average" and one rated it just "average." Only one male loved it. The remaining four only felt it was an "average" movie.

The new story follows an unlikely group of five citizens who, over the course
of the night, find out just how far they will go to protect themselves and,
ultimately, each other, as they fight to survive a night fraught with impossible
decisions.

We begin our story with a haunted loner, Leo (FRANK GRILLO), a sergeant who has suffered the loss of
his son prior to tonight. Arming himself with enough guns and body armor to make
it until dawn, he is a man possessed...and one clearly going out on a vigilante
mission of vengeance against those responsible for his loss.

Eva (CARMEN EJOGO) is a single mother trying to
make ends meet who lives on the wrong side of the tracks. She lives with her
teenage daughter, Cali (ZOE SOUL), and
can't afford the security offered the wealthy. When they are attacked in the
home where they attempt to hide and are briefly captured by masked Purge
assailants, Eva and Cali must rely on the unlikely help of a stranger named Leo
to save them from certain death.

When Leo, against his better judgment and to the detriment of his plan of
retribution upon someone who wronged his family, witnesses their kidnapping, he
opens fire to protect Eva and Cali. Meanwhile, a couple on the brink of
separating, Shane (ZACH GILFORD) and
Liz (KIELE SANCHEZ), become the victims of
a carjacking just as The Purge commences. Seeking refuge in Leo's armored car,
they team up with these other three strangers to fend off those seeking to
exercise their right to mayhem.

As the new allies question everything they've ever been told by their
leaders, they will be hunted across the massive city in a kill-or-be-killed
series of survival scenarios that blur the line between sponsored revenge and
righteous justice.